Agnus Dei: As Inocentes

An exceedingly gritty story set behind the walls of a Benedictine monastery in Poland during World War II. Rape can be a lifelong trauma for many women, but what a nun experienced after such a brutal act is probably beyond the imagination of most of us non-believers. Another equally important problem occurred in the post-war period. How did society accept these disgraced women who had also become pregnant? It was definitely no walk in the park... When some of the Benedictine nuns have more or less managed to come to terms with their fate, in this film the Mother Superior is inhumanly hard on them by basically sacrificing their children to God soon after birth. It is certainly a strong theme, excellently handled in all aspects in The Innocents, and it raises many questions that touch on our dark past. (21/04/2020)

War is a terrible thing, and the movie The Innocents shows us what it was like in some areas during the liberation. The soldiers simply hadn't had a woman for a long time, and the nuns were virtuous, so they went for it. War may be shit, but it's people who do the worst shit. The difference between a liberator and a tyrant is easily blurred. (10/01/2017)

One of a number of rough stories created by the war. One of those occasions, when a human behaves like an animal and causes so much evil that he cannot even admit it. A very rough film, where you have no idea what is going to happen in the next five minutes, so you have a lump in your throat for the whole two hours and just wait what else is going to happen to those nuns. This is also supported by the fact that the nuns rarely speak and the atmosphere of the film and the environment in which it takes place rather speak for them. The finale is very powerful and proves that humanity can win even in places where one would least expect it. (31/03/2017)

It is the year 1945, the war is over, the violence is dwindling, and the thunder of cannons is no longer heard in the Polish countryside. Yet the war scars are still alive. The French mission, which operates a field hospital, still has plenty of work to do and the inhabitants of the nearby monastery are suffering the consequences of last year's summer when the front passed through this area. Soldiers of two armies lying down frightened the nuns and explained that by passing on genes to their offspring, they could ensure the immortality of human life, which is actually much easier and faster than caring about salvation and the immortality of their souls. Unfortunately, pregnancy and childbirth are not desirable phenomena in a women's monastery and the mother superior rightly fears losing face and humiliation in the conservative environment of Catholic society. Suddenly, she is in a situation where she faces the complete collapse of the institution she built and defended, as well as the collapse of the values ​​she promoted and held. On the other side of the wall, a young French nurse unexpectedly faces the biggest professional and moral task of her short career. The Innocents is a poignant drama about conscience, responsibility, and the clash of religious traditions with the pitfalls that life brings. This drama is excellently cast and performed, deserving the audience's attention. I hope we will hear more about the promising Lou de Laage, who with a bit of luck could become a new staple of French cinema, and this charming girl could take the position currently held by Léa Seydoux. Overall impression: 90%. (08/01/2017)